The central goal of DOE`s Ocean Margin Program (OMP) is to determine whether continental shelves are quantitatively significant in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and isolating it via burial in sediments or exporting it to the open ocean (Program Announcement, 1991). A major component of the OMP will be to measure carbon flux on the shelf and across the shelf to the slope and open ocean. We are developing a video and optical instrument package (LAPS: Large Aggregate Profiling System) and the analytical techniques to precisely measure a wide spectrum of the large aggregate population of particles in the shelf/slope environment. This particle population, encompassing the ``marine snow`` size particles (diameters > 0.5 mm), is thought to be the major pathway of material flux in the ocean (McCave, 1975; Asper, 1987; Walsh and Gardner, 1992). Our goal is to use aggregate abundance and size spectrum data along with the CTD, beam attenuation and fluorescence data collected with our instrument package to collect data rapidly, repeatedly and accurately such that it is both linkable to carbon flux and usable in biophysical models. Additionally, measurements of particle flux will be made with sediment traps deployed on the continental slope in conjunction …

This report describes, and presents the technical basis for, a methodology for performing instrument surveys to release material from radiological control, including release to controlled areas and release from radiological control. The methodology is based on a fast scan survey, a large-area wipe survey, and a series of statistical, fixed measurements. The methodology meets the requirements of the US Department of Energy Radiological Control Manual (RadCon Manual) (DOE 1994) and DOE Order 5400.5 (DOE 1990) for release of material in less time than is required by a conventional scan survey. Implementation of the proposed methodology with a confidence interval of 67% will meet the material release requirements. The material evaluation process will allow material that has not been exposed to contamination to be released from radiological control without a survey. For potential radioactive contaminants that are not reserved in DOE Order 5400.5, the methodology will allow material to be released from radiological control. For other radionuclides, with the exception of some difficult-to-detect radionuclides, material may be released for controlled use. Compared with current techniques, the proposed methodology will reduce the amount of time required to perform surveys.

Questions concerning the Environmental Qualification (EQ) of electrical equipment used in commercial nuclear power plants have recently become the subject of significant interest to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Initial questions centered on whether compliance with the EQ requirements for older plants were adequate to support plant operation beyond 40 years. After subsequent investigation, the NRC Staff concluded that questions related to the differences in EQ requirements between older and newer plants constitute a potential generic issue which should be evaluated for backfit, independent of license renewal activities. EQ testing of electric cables was performed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) under contract to the NRC in support of license renewal activities. Results showed that some of the environmentally qualified cables either failed or exhibited marginal insulation resistance after a simulated plant life of 20 years during accident simulation. This indicated that the EQ process for some electric cables may be non-conservative. These results raised questions regarding the EQ process including the bases for conclusions about the qualified life of components based upon artificial aging prior to testing.

A variety of elemental foils have been activated by neutron fluence from TFTR under conditions with the DT neutron yield per shot ranging from 10{sup 12} to over 10{sup 18}, and with the DT/(DD+DT) neutron ratio varying from 0.5% (from triton burnup) to unity. Linear response over this large dynamic range is obtained by reducing the mass of the foils and increasing the cooling time, all while accepting greatly improved counting statistics. Effects on background gamma-ray lines from foil-capsule-material contaminants. and the resulting lower limits on activation foil mass, have been determined. DT neutron yields from dosimetry standard reactions on aluminum, chromium, iron, nickel, zirconium, and indium are in agreement within the {plus_minus}9% (one-sigma,) accuracy of the measurements: also agreeing are yields from silicon foils using the ACTL library cross-section. While the ENDF/B-V library has too low a cross-section. Preliminary results from a variety of other threshold reactions are presented. Use of the {sup 115}In(n,n) {sup 115m}In reaction (0.42 times as sensitive to DT neutrons as DD neutrons) in conjunction with pure-DT reactions allows a determination of the DT/(DD+DT) ratio in trace tritium or low-power tritium beam experiments.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

In this study, computer human interaction factors are examined as a possible source of information to aid in the operation and management of local area computer networks. Users' perceptions of computer performance and response time are evaluated in relation to specific modifications in the information organization of a file server in a local area network configuration running in Novell 3.11.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

This report was prepared at the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University at Palisades, New York, under subcontract to Pacific Northwest Laboratory it is a part of a larger project of global climate studies which supports site characterization work required for the selection of a potential high-level nuclear waste repository and forms part of the Performance Assessment Scientific Support (PASS) Program at PNL. The work under the PASS Program is currently focusing on the proposed site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and is under the overall direction of the Yucca Mountain Project Office US Department of Energy, Las Vegas, Nevada. The final results of the PNL project will provide input to global atmospheric models designed to test specific climate scenarios which will be used in the site specific modeling work of others. The primary purpose of the data bases compiled and of the astronomic predictive models is to aid in the estimation of the probabilities of future climate states. The results will be used by two other teams working on the global climate study under contract to PNL. They are located at and the University of Maine in Orono, Maine, and the Applied Research Corporation in College Station, Texas. This report …

Weekly Jewish newspaper from Fort Worth, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

Bi-monthly publication of the Boy Scouts of America, written for Boy Scout leaders, officials, and others interested in the work of the Scouts. It includes articles about events and activities, updates from the national headquarters, topical columns and essays, and news from various chapters nationwide.

Weekly Jewish newspaper from Fort Worth, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

Weekly Jewish newspaper from Fort Worth, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

Compact, portable systems capable of quickly identifying contaminants in the field are of great importance when monitoring the environment. One of the missions of the Pacific Northwest Laboratory is to examine and develop new technologies for environmental restoration and waste management at the Hanford Site. In this paper, three prototype sensing systems are discussed. These prototypes are composed of sensing elements, data acquisition system, computer, and neural network implemented in software, and are capable of automatically identifying contaminants. The first system employs an array of tin-oxide gas sensors and is used to identify chemical vapors. The second system employs an array of optical sensors and is used to identify the composition of chemical dyes in liquids. The third system contains a portable gamma-ray spectrometer and is used to identify radioactive isotopes. In these systems, the neural network is used to identify the composition of the sensed contaminant. With a neural network, the intense computation takes place during the training process. Once the network is trained, operation consists of propagating the data through the network. Since the computation involved during operation consists of vector-matrix multiplication and application of look-up tables unknown samples can be rapidly identified in the field.

Spectroscopic diagnostics have great potential to obtain high temperature measurements of plasmas created in ICF targets. The plasmas may be over 1 mm in size and therefore, one of the first steps in making accurate spectroscopic measurements has been to improve the resolution of the instrument. A spectrograph is now available for Nova experiments which takes advantage of gated technology by coupling a Bragg crystal to a microchannel plate that can record data over a 250 ps time frame. The crystal disperses the x-rays, while slits add the ability to image the plasmas in the perpendicular direction. The characteristics of this diagnostic, TSPEC, will be evaluated for laser-produced plasmas. Recent data will be presented from colliding plasmas and large-scale hohlraums which indicate that imaging can greatly enhance the ability to diagnose these plasmas.

Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) inspectors conduct full-shift environmental noise surveys to determine the occupational noise levels to which coal miners are exposed. These noise surveys are performed to determine compliance with the noise standard promulgated under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. Data from over 60,000 full-shift noise surveys conducted from fiscal year 1986 through 1992 were entered into a computer data base to facilitate analysis. This paper presents the mean and standard deviation of over 60,000 full-shift noise dose measurements for various underground and surface coal mining occupations. Additionally, it compares and contrasts the levels with historical noise exposure measurements for selected coal mining occupations that were published in the 1970`s. The findings were that the percentage of miners surveyed that were subjected to noise exposures above 100%, neglecting personal hearing protectors, were 26.5% and 21.6% for surface and underground mining, respectively. Generally, the trend is that the noise exposures for selected occupations have decreased since the 1970`s.

This report was prepared by the Applied Research Corporation (ARC), College Station, Texas, under subcontract to Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) as part of a global climate studies task. The task supports site characterization work required for the selection of a potential high-level nuclear waste repository and is part of the Performance Assessment Scientific Support (PASS) Program at PNL. The work is under the overall direction of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), US Department of Energy Headquarters, Washington, DC. The scope of the report is to present the results of the third year`s work on the atmospheric modeling part of the global climate studies task. The development testing of computer models and initial results are discussed. The appendices contain several studies that provide supporting information and guidance to the modeling work and further details on computer model development. Complete documentation of the models, including user information, will be prepared under separate reports and manuals.

The superplastic behavior of the 5083 aluminum alloy with additions of Mn and Zr was studied by uniaxial tensile testing and microstructural evaluations. Additions of up to 0.2% Zr and 0.8% Mn were made to a base 5083 aluminum alloy to decrease the grain size and improve superplastic behavior. Constant strain-rate tensile test data were used to determine strain-rate sensitivity (m values) and elongations-to-failure for the alloys at strain rates ranging from 4 {times} 10{sup {minus}4} to 1 {times} 10{sup {minus}1} s{sup {minus}1} at temperatures of 450 to 550C. Elongations-to-failure of up to 400% at 1 {times} 10{sup {minus}2} s{sup {minus}1} were achieved for the modified alloys. The strain-rate sensitivity for the alloys as a function of strain was determined and two distinct behaviors were observed. For the alloys having composition close to the base 5083 alloy, the m value steadily decreased with increasing strain; however, in alloys with higher levels of Zr, the m value remained stable. A maximum m value of 0.65 was achieved at 0.7 strain for the 1.6% Mn and 0.2% Zr alloy at 1 {times} 10{sup {minus}3} s{sup {minus}1}.

Weekly newspaper from De Leon, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.